Constitution against young animals

Representatives of the opposition, who several times on the 31st of the past months came to Triumfalnaya Square in defense of Article 31 of the Constitution on freedom of assembly (and each time encountered inadequate forceful actions by law enforcement agencies), are going to repeat the action on March 31 at 18.00. Meanwhile, it is known that at the same time in the same place there will be a mass event of pro-Kremlin youth organizations - “Ours”, “Locals”, “Young Guard”, “Young Russia”, “New People”. Initially, they planned to hold a political rally with the participation of at least five thousand people, but after the explosions in the Moscow metro on March 29, they decided to turn it into an equally massive blood collection event (it should be noted that young Kremlin members collected blood on Triumphal Square before, and every once, by an amazing coincidence, precisely on the 31st), dedicated to the memory of those killed in the explosions. On the evening of March 30, according to eyewitnesses, a huge stage was erected on the square.

The head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alekseeva, who participated in several opposition rallies on the 31st, announced on her blog that this time she will not go to Triumphal Square. According to her, she can’t help herself, “imagining what the funeral rally that the pro-Kremlin youth will be holding there at that time will lead to. I don’t want to be present at this Sabbath, I can neither hear nor see it. And any demands there are inappropriate.” Alekseeva plans to instead go to the Park Kultury metro station at 20.00 (“so that those who go to Triumfalnaya Square have time to join”), where one of the explosions took place. Solidarity leaders Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Milov, and movement activist Ilya Yashin also announced their intention to come to Park Culture instead of Triumfalnaya Square.

Supporters of Eduard Limonov, on the contrary, did not refuse to participate in the action in defense of Article 31.